Academic & GED

ACADEMIC AND GED PROGRAM

The WIO Program Design Development Group (PDDG) made up of neighbors, community leaders, students, and educators recommended we begin the project with a small cohort of students. The thinking was we could form a learning community, learn together and concentrate on achieving measurable “positive outcomes” for individual youth in the cohort, as well

as collective outcomes for the cohort. Adopting an outcome based approach was seen as more favorable than adopting the “old school model” of enroll large numbers of youth and view success through the lens of seat-time, i.e., numbers of youth enrolled.

With the assistance of PDDG members, and graduate students and faculty from Seattle University and University of Washington, we moved forward with establishing an outcome based, small school cohort model. University of Washington – School of Nursing students, developed protocols for recruitment, enrollment, data gathering and assessments tools to evaluate transcripts and best practices in the local school district and Central District in particular. Based on state standards for issuing high school diplomas, and individual student needs, we we partnered with NW Academy to guide students on tracks for either completion of a high school diploma or completion

WIO is addressing the disparities in the academic performance and graduation rates of vulnerable
youth who reside in the Central District of Seattle.
Our integrated, project-based curriculum is designed around three key principles that research on effective small schools suggest is critical: Rigor, Relevance, and Relationships. As a small school, we value being a community of caring, committed individuals, dedicated to achieving solutions to help mitigate the downward trajectory facing youth who are educationally, politically and economically disenfranchised .

How we helped in 2011: Ten (10) students were enrolled in the Academic and GED Program. Student accomplishments for the ten students ranged from
the receipt of a High School Diploma, to acceptance into federally funded programs (such as AmeriCorps) offering monthly stipends ($1080/month), health insurance, child care, bus passes and completion of GED at Highline Community College, to enrollment in SVI Pre-Apprenticeship Construction Training with stipend, to enhanced skill sets leading to full time employment.